Bed and cylinder printing press



March 20, 1934. c. B. COTTRELL, an

BED AND CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS Filed April 28, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 M I fa y R Q INVENTOR M 74W W ATTORNEYS March 20, 1934. c. B. COTTRELL, 3D

BED AND CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS Filed April 28, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Ww'm 9Q AITORN EYS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEYS March 20, 1934. c. B. COTTRELL, so

BED AND CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS Filed April 28, 1931 March 20, 1934. g, COTTRELL, 3 1,951,900

BED AND CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS Filed April 28, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR M 71% 71* ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 20, 1934 uisi'rso srarss BED AND CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS Calvert B. Cottrell, 3d, Westerly, R. 1., assignor to C. B. Cottrell & Sons Company, Westerly, R. 1., a corporation of Delaware Application April 28,

21 Claims.

The object of my invention is to provide certain improvements in a bed and cylinder printing press whereby a more even inking of the form may be obtained and whereby the product of the press may be increased.

One feature of my invention is an inking mechanism comprising an ink fountain, and its ink distributing and form rollers and an electric motor independent of the drive for the press for driving the distributing and form rollers continuously in one direction only.

Another feature of my invention is the provision of means for automatically raising the form on the reciprocating bed into position to contact with the form rollers of the inking mechanism on one stroke of the bed and for automatically lowering the form into position to fail to contact with said form rollers on the reverse stroke of the bed.

This feature of my invention more specifically includes the provision of a reciprocating bed having a lower or base member and an upper or form member, which form member has a limited diagonal sliding movement lengthwise of the press on the base member whereby the form member is automatically raised at the beginning of the forward or printing stroke of the bed and is automatically lowered at the beginning of the reverse or non-printing stroke of the bed.

Another feature of my invention is the provision whereby the inking mechanism as a whole, including its roller driving motor, may be moved lengthwise of the press to a point Where the distributing and form rollers may be conveniently washed without the necessity of removing them from the inking mechanism.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of my improved bed and cylinder printing press, the parts being shown in full lines in the positions they assume just after the bed and cylinder have started on their forward or printing stroke, and in dotted lines in the positions they assume at the end of the said forward or printing stroke.

Fig. 2 represents a similar view with the parts shown in the positions they assume when the bed and cylinder are part way of their reverse or non-printing stroke; the inking mechanism in this view being shown in dotted lines, moved to a point where its distributing and form rollers can be readily washed without removal.

Fig. 3 represents a detail side View partly in section on an enlarged scale, of a suitable means for operating the impression cylinder grippers, the sheet feed stop and the device for stripping the sheets tail end first from the impression cylinder.

Fig. 4 represents a detail top plan View partly in section, of some of the parts shown in Fig. 3.

1931, Serial No. 533,426

Fig. 5 represents a detail view partly in section, of the mechanism for operating the movable pin which controls the tumbler cam of the impression cylinder grippers, the pin being shown held in its operative position in the path of the cam by its cam on the form bed which controls the closing of the grippers.

Fig. 6 represents a similar view with the tumler pin in its inoperative position out of the path of the cam and passing under the yielding operating cam on the form bed which controls the opening of the grippers.

Fig. '7 represents a detail side view of the reciprocating form bed, the form member in this view being shown raised into position to bring the form into contact with the form rollers of the inking mechanism on the forward or printing stroke of the bed.

Fig. 8 represents a similar view with the form member shown lowered into position to bring the form out of contact with the form roller on the reverse or non-printing stroke or" the bed.

Fig. 9 represents a transverse vertical section through the bed taken in the plane of the line IX-IX of Fig. '7, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 10 represen s a bottom plan view of the upper or form member of the bed.

Fig. 11 represents a top plan view of the lower or base member of the bed.

Fig. 12 represents an end view of the form member.

Fig. 13 represents an end view of the base member.

Fig. 14 represents a diagrammatic view of the impression cylinder and its adjacent parts in the positions they assume just after the impression cylinder has started on the first revolution of its forward or printing stroke.

Fig. 15 represents a similar view just after the impression cylinder has started on the second revolution of its forward stroke.

Fig. 16 represents a similar view as the impression cylinder reaches the end of its forward stroke during the second revolution and is ready to start on the first revolution of its reverse or non-printing stroke.

Fig. 17 represents a similar view as the impression cylinder passes the gripper opening point during its first revolution on its reverse stroke.

Fig. 18 represents a similar View as the impression cylinder reaches the end of its first revolution on the reverse stroke.

Fig. 19 represents a similar view as the impression cylinder reaches the end of its reverse stroke during its second revolution.

The main frame of the printing press is denoted by 1. The form bed which is fitted to reciprocate in the main frame is shown as comprising an upper or form member 2 and a lower or base member 3, the upper member serving to carry the printing form 4 and having a limited diagonal sliding movement on the lower or base member 3 longitudinally of the press, in the present instance by providing the upper or form member 2 with an inclined bottom surface and the base member 3 with a coacting reversely inclined top surface.

A lost motion connection is provided between the form and base members and the two members are slidably interlocked against lateral displacement as follows:

The bottom surface of the form member 2 has longitudinal grooves 5 which terminate at the rear end of the form member in a cross recess 6. The top surface of the base member 3 is provided with longitudinal ribs '7 located in the longitudinal grooves 5, a cross rib 8 at the front end of the base member overlapping the front end of the form member and a cross rib 9 at the rear end of the base member located in the cross recess 6 of the form member. The front cross rib 8 of the base member serves to limit the forward and upward sliding movement of the form memher on the base member and the rear cross rib 9 serves to limit the rearward and downward sliding movement of the form member on the base member.

The form bed may be reciprocated by any suitable means, that shown herein comprising an electric motor 10 which drives motive fluid pumps 11 and 12 having suitable operative connections with their respective longitudinally disposed fixedly mounted cylinders 13 and 14 below the form bed. The piston 15 which slides in the cylinder 13 is connected to an arm 16 depending from the front end of the form member 2 of the bed for moving the bed rearwardly and the piston 17 which slides in the cylinder 14 is connected to an arm 18 depending from the rear end of the form member 2 for moving the bed forwardly. As this bed reciprocating means forms no part or" the present invention it will not be more specifically described herein, it being understood that suitable motive fluid connections are provided to ensure the reciprocation of the bed by the pumps 11 and 12.

The inking mechanism is shown as comprising an ink fountain 19, distributing rollers 20, form rollers 21 and an electric motor 22, which motor is independent of the bed reciprocating means and drives both the distributing rollers 20 and the form rollers 21 continuously in one direction to ensure an even application of the ink to the form 4 on the forward or printing stroke of the bed.

This inking mechanism is mounted above the reciprocating bed and it may be shifted as a whole lengthwise along the machine in the main frame 1 to a point such as that shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 where the distributing and form rollers of the inking mechanism can be readily washed without removing the rollers from the mechanism.

The oscillating impression cylinder 23 is fixedly mounted in the main frame 1 and it is geared at all times to the reciprocating bed through the usual gear and rack connection 24, 25, the rack being attached to the form member 2 of the bed so that the form and cylinder are kept in perfect register in the operation of the press. The movement of the bed is sufficient to rotate the cylinder more than one revolution, preferably about one and one-half revolutions, in each direction.

This oscillating impression cylinder is provided with a set of tumbler actuated grippers 26, their tumbler cam being denoted by 27. These grippers 26 are opened to release the head end of a printed sheet after the impression cylinder has rotated about one-half of a revolution on its reverse stroke and are permitted to remain open until the impression cylinder finishes its reverse stroke of substantially one and one-half revolutions and the printed sheet has left the cylinder. The grippers are closed on the head end of the unprinted sheet at'the beginning of the first revolution of the forward or printing stroke of the cylinder and stay closed during substantially the one and onehalf revolutions of the forward stroke of the impression cylinder as well as during substantially the first one-half revolution of the reverse stroke.

To accomplish this result I provide a tumbler cam operating pin 28 which is slidable laterally into and out of the path of the gripper tumbler cam and it is yieldingly held out of the path of the gripper tumbler cam by a spring 29. The pin operating rock lever is pivoted at 30 to the main frame and it has one arm 31 which engages the pin to move it laterally into the path of the tumbler cam, the stud or roller on the other arm 32 of which lever is arranged in position to be engaged by a fixed cam 33 on the reciprocating bed for rocking the lever to move the pin 28 into the path of the tumbler cam for closing the grippers onto the unprinted sheet at the start of the forward or printing strokes of the bed and the cylinder. The stud or roller on this arm 32 of the rock lever is also arranged in position to be engaged by a spring actuating cam 34 on the bed for rocking the lever to move the pin into the path of the tumbler cam for opening the grippers at about the end of the first one-half revolution in the reverse stroke of the cylinder to release the head end of the printed sheet. This cam 34 is so formed that the stud or roller on the arm 32 of the rock lever will travel inside the cam on the forward movement of the bed and on the outside of the cam to be operated thereby on the rearward movement of the bed as will be clearly seen by reference to Figs. 3, 4 and 6 of the drawings.

The sheet feed table which may be a part of any well known or approved sheet feeding mechanism, is denoted by 35 and it is arranged to feed the unprinted sheets to the under side of the impression cylinder. The movement of the sheet feed stop 36 is controlled by a cam 37 on the reciprocating bed, said cam being arranged to engage a stud or roller 33 on the lower end of a rod 39 depending from the arm 46 of a rock lever pivoted at 41, the other arm 42 of which lever is engaged by a spring 43 arranged to normally hold the sheet stop 36 depressed.

The sheet delivery mechanism may also be of any well known or approved form, that shown herein comprising a rocking sheet stripper 44, the endless sheet carrier 45 and the coacting sheet delivery rolls 46, 47.

The sheet stripper 44 is depressed into position to strip the printed sheet tail end first from.

the upper side of the impression cylinder imme- 1 diately after the start of the reverse stroke of the cylinder, the said stripper being normally held out of engagement with the cylinder by a spring 48 on the rod 49. A stripper operating cam 50 on the reciprocating bed is arranged in position to engage a stud or roller 51 on the rod 49 to depress the said stripper into engagement with the impression cylinder at the proper time to strip the tail end of the printed sheet therefrom.

The operation of the printing press is as follows:

As the form bed and impression cylinder are started on their forward or printing strokes the impression cylinder grippers will be closed on the head end of an unprinted sheet and the form member of the bed will be raised into its printing position. As the bed is moved to the end of its forward or printing stroke the impression cylinder will be rotated about one and one-half revolutions and the form on the bed will have been brought into contact with the form rollers of the inking mechanism and inked thereby and the sheet on the impression cylinder will have been printed. This forward stroke of the bed is suffi-- cient to rotate the cylinder to bring the tail end of the printed sheet beyond its transfer point to the delivery mechanism.

As the bed and cylinder are started on their reverse or non-printing stroke the form member is first lowered so that the form will fail to contact with the form rollers of the inking mechanism. Also, the stripper of the delivery mechanism is lowered into contact with the impression cylinder and thereby strips the tail end of the printed sheet from the cylinder and directs the sheet printed side up to the coacting rollers 46, 4'7 of the delivery mechanism, which rollers then take control of the sheet. When the impression cylinder has rotated a short distance on its reverse stroke, in the present instance about onehalf a revolution, the grippers are opened to release the head end of the printed sheet. These grippers are permitted to remain open during the remainder of the reverse stroke of the impression cylinder.

From the above description it will be seen that by feeding the unprinted sheet to the under side of the impression cylinder and by delivering the printed sheet tail end first from the upper side of the impression cylinder a considerable amount of Waste movement of both the cylinder and the bed is eliminated, the printing of the sheet being started immediately after the head end is taken by the grippers at the start of the forward strokes of the cylinder and bed and the necessary reverse movement of the cylinder being mostly utilized in transferring the printed sheet therefrom.

It will also be seen that the lowering of the form member on the reverse stroke of the bed permits the distributing and form rollers of the inking mechanism to be driven continuously in one direction only, by a motor which is independent of the bed drive; thereby ensuring an even working up, distribution and application of the ink.

It will also be seen that when it is desired to wash the distributing and form rollers the inking mechanism as a whole may be moved lengthwise of the press to a point where the rollers can be washed without removing them from the inking mechanism.

The parts shown and described but not claimed herein form the subject matter of my divisional application filed December 14, 1931, Serial No. 580,863.

It is evident that various changes may be resorted to in the construction, form and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I do not intend to be limited to the particular embodiment herein shown and described, but what I claim is:

1. In a bed and cylinder printing press, a reciprocating form bed, a drive therefor, an inking mechanism for the bed including distributing and form rollers, and a drive independent of the bed drive for driving the distributing and form rollers continuously in one direction only, while the press is printing.

2. In a bed and cylinder printing press, a reciprocating form bed, a drive therefor, an inking mechanism for the bed including distributing and form rollers, and means independent of the bed drive for driving the distributing and form rollers continuously in one direction only, while the press is printing, said inking mechanism being movable lengthwise of the press to a point where the distributing and form rollers may be washed Without removing them from the inking mechanism.

3. In a bed and cylinder printing press, a reciprocating form bed, a motor for driving it, an inking mechanism for the bed including an electric motor and distributing and form rollers driven thereby continuously in one direction only, While the press is printing, said inking mechanism with its motor being movable lengthwise of the press to a point where the distributing and form rollers may be washed without remo ing them from the inking mechanism.

4. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, at reciprocating form bed, and means for automatically raising and lowering the form to bring it respec tively into and out of position to contact with the form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed.

5. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers,

a reciprocating form bed, means for automatically raising and lowering the form to bring it respectively into and out of position to contact with the form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed, and means for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

6. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed, a drive therefor, means for automatically raising and lowering the form to bring it respectively into and out of position to contact with the form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed, and means independent of the bed drive for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

7. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, a reciprocating form bed, and means for automatically raising the form to bring it into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically lowering the form into position to fail to contact with said form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed.

8. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an ink ing mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating iorm bed, means for automatically raising the form to bring it into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically lowering the form into position to fail to contact with said form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed, and means for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

9. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed, a drive therefor, means for automatically raising the form to bring it into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically lowering the form into position to fail to contact with said form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed, and means independent of the bed drive for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

10. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, a reciprocating form bed comprising base and form members, and means for automatically raising and lowering the form member to bring the form respectively into and out of position to contact with the form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed.

11. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising base and form members, means for automatically raising and lowering the form member to bring the form respectively into and out of position to contact with the form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed, and means for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

12. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising base and form members, a drive for the bed, means for auto matically raising and lowering the form member to bring the form respectively into and out of position to contact with the form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed, and means independent of the bed drive for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

13. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, a reciprocating form bed comprising base and form members, and means for automatically raising the form member to bring the form into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically lowering the form member to bring the form into position to fail to contact with the form rollers on the nonprinting stroke of the bed.

1a. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising base and form members, means for automatically raising the form member to bring the form into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically lowering the form member to bring the form into position to fail to contact with the form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed, and means for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

15. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising base and form members, a drive for the bed, means for automatically raising the form member to bring the form into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for auto matically lowering the form member to bring the form into position to fail to contact with the form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed, and means independent of the bed drive for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

16. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising a base member and a form member having a limited diagonal sliding movement on the base member, and means for automatically sliding the form member in opposite directions to respectively raise the form into and lower it out of position to contact with its form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed.

17. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rolla reciprocating form bed comprising a base member and a form member having a limited diagonal sliding movement on the base member, means for automatically sliding the form member in opposite directions to respectively raise the form into and lower it out of position to contact with its form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed, and means for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

18. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising a base member and a form member having a limited diagonal sliding movement on the base member, a drive for the bed, means for automatically sliding the form member opposite directions to respectively raise the form into and lower it out of position to contact with its form rollers on the opposite strokes of the bed, and means independent of the bed drive for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

19. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising a base member and a form member having a limited diagonal sliding movement on the base member, and means for automatically sliding the form member in a direction to raise the form into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically slidthe form member into position to fail to contact with the form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed.

20. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising a base member and a form member having a limited diagonal sliding movement on the base member, means for automatically sliding the form member in a direction to raise the form into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically sliding the form member into position to fail to contact with the form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed, and means for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

21. In a bed and cylinder printing press, an inking mechanism therefor including form rollers, a reciprocating form bed comprising a base member and a form member having a limited diagonal sliding movement on the base member, a drive for the bed, means for automatically sliding the form member in a direction to raise the form into position to contact with the form rollers on the printing stroke of the bed and for automatically sliding the form member into position to fail to contact with the form rollers on the non-printing stroke of the bed, and means independent of the bed drive for driving the form rollers continuously in one direction only.

CALVERT B. COTTRELL, 3D. 

